Japan Expected To Stop Buying Huawei & ZTE Equipment

Huawei and ZTE, at least before they started to become known for their smartphones, would supply many a communications device to companies around the world. For example there mobile hotspot dongles sold by carriers around the world would be made by Huawei, so safe to say that in addition to smartphones, such as behind-the-scenes communications tools are a core of their businesses.

Unfortunately it seems that Huawei and ZTE could start losing those businesses. A report from Reuters has revealed that Japan plans to start banning the purchase of Huawei and ZTE products for government uses. This is done to help beef up their security to prevent leaks and attacks.

Japan isn’t alone in this as other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and the US have started to ban the use of products made by these companies over fears of spying from China, where some believe that due to Huawei’s ties with the Chinese government, their products could be used as a means to spy on other governments.

According to Japan’s chief government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, who declined to comment on the report and whether or not the Japanese government is targeting Huawei and ZTE, “Cybersecurity is becoming an important issue in Japan. We’ll take firm measures looking at it from a variety of perspectives.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang has since expressed his concerns about the report, stating that, “We hope the Japanese side can provide a fair competition environment for Chinese companies operating in Japan and not do anything to harm bilateral cooperation and mutual trust.”